Whilst walking through Covent Garden yesterday, I passed Firetrap and saw that they had live models standing in the window to no doubt attract people to the store.
I thought what a boring job that must be all day, and it’s a shame they didn’t look like they were enjoying themselves that much. Though it certainly was eye catching, it didn’t make me want to go into the store any more.
One of the newest arrivals to the ever evolving Westbourne Grove in Bayswater is the Italian restaurant, Mulberry Grove, serving eye catching New York style 20 inch pizzas. Inside it’s themed like a stylish New York bar under lit with ambient purple lighting, textured brick walls and iconic panoramas stretched across its back walls. One of the only things detracting from the theme was the waitresses, though very attractive, understandably and noticeably not very New Yorkish (is that even a word?).
The menu focuses on their very affordable 20 inch pizzas that range from around £17 to £20 something per pie. Unless you’re a party of four though you’ll be likely to take some or most of it home with you since they are so large. If variety is what you want, you may order your pizza half and half with different toppings, or order individuals slices instead. They also offer a small selection of other non-pizza related main courses but looking around the restaurant does not seem to be the popular choice.
Barely keeping in touch with their theme, the restaurant only serves one American beer, and when we asked, disappointingly was also out of Root Beer, a classic soft drink quite popular and widely available in the States.
We started our meal off with Bruschetta that turned out very well with a nicely balanced toasted bread topped with the lush tomato, basil and basil and olive oil topping. Unfortunately the rest of the meal wasn’t as nice. Sure the slices are large and droopy and topped with a decent amount of ingredients but it was evident that each slice hadn’t been given that second round of cooking to give the base that slightly crispiness – the result a soggy pizza base that you only really tackle properly with a knife and fork. Nowhere in sight was extra parmesan cheese or chilli flakes although they do offer freshly cracked pepper and chilli oil as alternatives.
Overall dinner wasn’t as expensive as it could be at many other Italian places although I think you can do much better quality at the same price elsewhere. The final thing though that makes it unlikely for me to return was the 12.5% gratuity automatically added to the bill and really didn’t equate with the exceptional service we should have received.
Details: Mulberry Street
Found on: 84 Westbourne Grove, W2 5RT
Contactable on: 020 7313 6789
Highlights: Great dining atmosphere, eye catching but only reasonably flavoured pizzas at reasonable prices.
Room for improvement: Service doesn’t meet the gratuity rate and pizzas could really do with that second bake to give it just that more of an authentic New York crisp base.
The Kua Rating: 6 out of 10
You have no idea how hard it was for me to finally locate a store near me that sold desiccated coconut, but when I finally did I managed to whip up a couple of batches of chewy Anzac biscuits much to the same recipe I did last year.
I brought a bunch to work and it was nice being able to explain Anzac biscuits, and more importantly Anzac Day and the tribute to all of the people who were a part of ANZAC. Amazingly not many people had tasted these biscuits and even though some people didn’t really like coconut still found them very tasty.
I’d seen a couple of these around, but had no idea they were part of an art movement around the world. This one is starting to deteriorate as people peel off tiles one by one.
Others like the following seem a little inconspicuous to thieves and vandals or maybe just a little bit too high up for them.
After I left Brisbane, a new Japanese shop opened very near to Central station called Beard Papa. I think this Profiterole chain has been open in the US for sometime and it’s taken its while to cross any of the oceans to finally land on London’s doorstep. The first store opened up on Oxford Street last year and always seems very popular given the queue inside.
Right now, all they serve are profiteroles and drinks. Profiteroles are a light crisp food also known as a Cream Puff in the US and are made out of a Choux pastry. The pastry expands so much during the cooking process that the pastry makes an ideal container for some sort of filling, typically a cream or custard one. Beard Papa’s are continually pumped out very fresh, and although they don’t stay warm long because they are so light and airy, they still remain crisp as they hold back filling it with the appropriate custard cream concoctions until they are ordered.
Beard Papa in the UK still seems to be testing the market, with vanilla as their main flavour, and a small number of flavours rotating weekly (green tea was the one when I tried it). On the board you could see that Chocolate, and a number of other standard flavours were still coming soon. The green tea flavour had just the slightest touch of green tea flavour without being overwhelming or as gritty as what some green tea ice creams could be, and went well with the crisp light pastry.
Beard Papa’s is definitely worth getting for a sweet afternoon or perhaps morning snack. They do larger packs as well, making it a perfect thing to bring to the office, though not as cheap.
Details: Beard Papa’s
Found on: Corner of Oxford and Berwick Street, London
Highlights: Fresh crispy profiteroles lightly dusted with icing sugar and filled with a sweet and flavoursome custard cream filling.
Room for improvement: At £1.40, they’re not that cheap to take to a party (but still worth it)
The Kua Rating: 8 out of 10
Call me crazy, but when I heard that the Channel Four team filming the next Human Footprint show were laying out a Lifetime of Tea in Trafalgar Square I thought that it would be a great photo opportunity.
Sure it meant getting up at a ghastly hour of the weekday and walking along the solemn streets of London but seeing 75 000 cups of tea laid out is not something you have an opportunity to witness every day. Check out the pictures that turned out here.
The last place you would expect to find an American BBQ and Crabshack restaurant is stuck between Sloan Square and South Kensington tube stations, but even for its odd location The Big Easy restaurant has attracted enough people on a Friday night to be completely packed out. It’s not a short walk from either station but at least it’ll give you a chance to work off all the food options they offer. The restaurant has two floors, the top one with plenty of standing area around the bar for just taking in the vibe, but plenty of noise to keep the restaurant feeling busy and full. We were lucky enough to be early enough to grab a timed table, but if you have a large group I would definitely book ahead so that you aren’t at least rushed through your meal.
The menu offers quite a bit of stuff, from home style BBQ, seafood, burgers, fish, fajitas and deadly desserts (think of a Krispy Kreme with chocolate fondue – probably the equivalent calories for a full meal right there!). They offer plenty of alcoholic drinks including wine, cocktails and beers but surprisingly no milkshakes or other interesting non-alcoholic varieties you might expect to find in a place like this.
Service throughout our meal was not bad with drinks and food orders taken quite promptly and food arriving in plenty of time to escape our necessary table deadline. Our waitress was a little bit harder to get a hold of when we wanted the bill, but nothing that caused too much undue stress. Expect all meals here to have a 12.5% gratuity automatically added.
I ended up ordering the full rack of Baby back ribs which I took quite a lot home in the end. It was served with Baked Beans in a BBQ sauce, corn on the cob and coleslaw – all of which was actually really tasty. The beans sat in a very tasty sauce, and the corn on the cob was both fresh and extremely tasty on its own (I’m guessing a little bit of butter or seasoning had been added). The coleslaw was pretty standard and ended up being slightly overrun from the sauce of the beans towards the end of the meal.
I was very impressed by the ribs, although not as tender as others I’ve had before, had the perfect amount of charred flesh, and smothered in a great well rounded sauce that was neither too tangy, nor sweet. It was a shame they didn’t have a bottle of that sauce at the table. The ribs went down like a treat and was fairly easy to eat without the tacky dining bib our waitress offered.
I’d definitely come back here sometime if I had a craving for BBQ.
Details: The Big Easy
Found on: 69 332-334 Kings Road, Chelsea, London SW3 5UR
Contactable on: 020 7354 4071
Highlights: Busy atmosphere, good BBQ, decent decorations
Room for improvement: It’s not that close to any tube stations. Need to book head.
The Kua Rating: 7.5 out of 10
On Sunday, my flatmate Claire and I walked down to watch the marathon runners as they started heading into the final stretch along the Thames. We were very impressed by the pace many people had set and continued to run by. It was great fun encouraging all the runners on, and we joined the crowd in calling out people’s names to encourage them for the final stretch.
It was nice when they gave you a smile or a wave back, with some even saying “Cheers” or “Thanks” back. Lots of people went by in costumes and the great weather helped in taking some nice pictures of the runners. You can check out the rest of them here.